Made in America (The Carpenters album)

Made in America is the tenth studio album by the American music duo The Carpenters, released in June 1981. Karen Carpenter died less than two years later, making it their final album released in her lifetime. It reached number 52 in the US and number 12 in the UK.

Karen played drums in the studio for the first time since Horizon, on the song "When It's Gone (It's Just Gone)", albeit in unison with veteran Nashville session drummer Larrie Londin, and she also played percussion on "Those Good Old Dreams" in tandem with Paulinho da Costa.

The album yielded their last Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 hit, "Touch Me When We're Dancing", which peaked at #16. The album's other four singles, "I Believe You," "(Want You) Back In My Life Again," "Those Good Old Dreams," and "Beechwood 4-5789," were only minor hits, peaking at #68, #72, #63, and #74 respectively.

In 1985, Richard Carpenter said "that was Karen's favorite album and is mine, out of all our projects".

Promotion
To promote Made in America, Karen and Richard Carpenter appeared on several talk shows in 1981, including America's Top Ten on July 11, The Merv Griffin Show on October 2 performing "(Want You) Back in My Life Again", and Good Morning America on October 12.

Personnel

 * Karen Carpenter – lead and backing vocals; drums and percussion on "When it's Gone"; percussion on "Those Good Old Dreams"
 * Richard Carpenter – backing vocals, keyboards (piano, Fender Rhodes and Wurlitzer electric piano, celesta, ARP Odyssey), orchestration,Roland Jupiter 8, Prophet 5, Oberheim OBXa, Rhodes Chroma, Korg MS10
 * Tim May, Tony Peluso, Fred Tackett, Dennis Budimir – guitars
 * Jay Dee Maness – pedal steel guitar
 * Earle Dumler – oboe
 * Tom Scott – tenor saxophone
 * Gayle Levant – concert harp
 * Joe Osborn – bass guitar
 * Larrie Londin, Ron Tutt, John Robinson – drums
 * Paulinho da Costa, Peter Limonick, Bob Conti – percussion
 * Jerry Steinholtz – congas on "I Believe You"
 * Carolyn Dennis, Stephanie Spruill, Maxine Waters Willard – background vocals
 * The O.K. Chorale – backing vocals on "Because We Are in Love (The Wedding Song)"
 * Peter Knight – orchestration on "Because We Are in Love (The Wedding Song)"
 * Paul Riser – orchestration on "I Believe You"
 * Daryl Dragon, Ian Underwood – synthesizer programming on "(Want You) Back in My Life Again"
 * Bernie Grundman, Richard Carpenter – remastering at Bernie Grundman Mastering